APRILIA ZANK

 

APRILIA ZANK

 

Central Station

 

people decently dressed

wait for trains

for connections

for new termini

new chances

longed-for visitors

or just sit around

watching

impassive pigeons

picking at crumbs –

 

the man with the robe

the colour of

scorched earth

nips off bits of bread

fancying

it tastes better

than the one stuck

in a corner of his mind

 

across the rails

huge screens rotate

images of prosperity

shiny roadsters

faces clean shaven like marble

breasts shimmering

through high-tech lace

 

a sudden thought

a shiver

the intimation of a silhouette

that could be his daughter's

 

the bread in his hand

feels like earth

like the scorched earth

he had left behind

 

callous fingers

knead it to crumbs

the hand opens

but the pigeons are gone

and the Supervisor

rebukes him

with an uncompromising gaze

 

 

Mist

 

spreads

over the city

heading toward twilight

 

lingers on trees

like lint

on wounded soldiers

blinds the street lamps

deludes the late home comer

veils lovers' embrace

in the softness of solitude

dampens the prophecy

of the owl's cry

entwines around the breast

with impatient limbs

closes eyes

drifts over the skin

caresses lips

creeps into the brain

blurs the pattern of cells

mutates synapses

 

dissipates

in spasms of light

 

 

Poise

 

your body in the depth of my hands

muscles like lazy snakes

under high-noon sun

on smooth, time-burnished stone

Laocoon's forbidden pleasure

redeemed

by benevolent gods' absolution

 

yet the fibre is tense

strained by unseen chords

like an instrument tuned to play

or a cave man ready to hunt

 

I try to eternise you in this poise

to imprint the seal of your limbs

on the vellum of my skin

but my colours blur

and I sense a trace of dust

in the depth of my palms

 

APRILIA ZANK

 

Dr. APRILIA ZANK is an educationist, freelance lecturer for Creative Writing and Translation Theory, as well as a multilingual poet, translator, editor from Munich, Germany and an Author of the Poetry book BAREFOOT TO ARCADIA. Born in Romania, she studied English and French Literature and Linguistics at the University of Bucharest, and then moved to Munich, Germany where she received her PhD degree in Literature and Psycholinguistics for her thesis, THE WORD IN THE WORD Literary Text Reception and Linguistic Relativity, from the Ludwig Maximilian University, where she started her teaching career. The research for her PhD thesis was done in collaboration with six universities from Europe, and as a visiting lecturer at Alberta University of Edmonton, Canada. Dr Aprilia writes verses in English and German, French and Romanian and was awarded a distinction at the “Vera Piller” Poetry Contest in Zurich. Her poetry collection, TERMINUS ARCADIA, was 2nd Place Winner at the Twowolvz Press Poetry Chapbook Contest 2013. In 2018, she was awarded the title “Dr. Aprilia Zank – Germany Beat Poet Laureate”, by the National Beat Poetry Foundation (USA). She has been an acclaimed guest at cultural events in Germany, Great Britain, Canada, Turkey, Singapore and Romania, where she read her poems, delivered lectures on various topics. Her poems and articles are published in many ezines and Anthologies of different countries.